As a long-standing member of the Driscoll’s team for more than 30 years, I felt a responsibility to set the facts straight on the ongoing worker welfare issues over the past few months.

At Driscoll’s, part of our vision is to enrich the lives of everyone we touch, and we believe that starts locally right in our own backyard. We’re a global brand but our roots are firmly planted here on the Central Coast.

In response to Kai Medeiros’ op-ed of June 7, “Ugly side of the berry business,” all of us at Driscoll’s agree that labor is an important issue. With more than 100 years of farming history, Driscoll’s knows first-hand how valuable farmworkers are — to us, their families and to their local communities. As part of that, I’d love to personally extend an invitation to Kai to come out and see us in Watsonville.

We are pleased by the recent agreement around wages between the Mexican government and farmworkers in Baja and, most importantly, foresee this agreement bringing stability to communities that have been impacted the most by protests.

In Baja, while most of the labor accusations against Driscoll’s including inhumane working conditions and claims of sexual harassment are unfounded or simply false, recent protests and a call to boycott our company caused us to reflect and look at our enterprise with a more critical eye. Driscoll’s recognizes we have to go beyond just compliance with our independent growers and create processes that extend globally.

What’s taken place in Baja transcends the berry industry — but more importantly, it goes beyond just labor and delves into larger worker welfare issues. Worker welfare addresses more than wages — it speaks to the comprehensive treatment of individual workers and their surrounding infrastructure, which includes everything from running water to health-care access.

We have always been an organization that takes great pride in being proactive, innovative and progressive. We have taken the opportunity to revise the Worker Welfare Standards that serve as our guiding principles internally and with our external independent grower partners. The comprehensive set of global guidelines speak to our commitment to the fair, legal and ethical treatment of individual workers and a dedication to make a positive impact within the communities where we operate, starting here in Santa Cruz County.

Our independent grower partner in Baja, BerryMex, consistently serves as a leader within the agriculture community, and has been committed to transparency with regard to wages and earning potential for its workers. In fact, all workers have mutually agreed to the dollar amounts they are getting paid, which have been made public. However, there is room for improvement on the government’s part in ensuring infrastructure for all farmworkers goes beyond just the bare minimum.

We believe if other growers in Baja modeled themselves after BerryMex, most of the issues that have plagued the San Quintín community could have been avoided.

This whole experience has been humbling for everyone within our extended family but it’s also an opportunity for us to take action and make some necessary changes to how we hold ourselves and our partners accountable. There is still work to be done but the entire Driscoll’s team, starting right in Watsonville, is committed to rolling up our sleeves to push for more than just adequate worker welfare standards.

Michael Hollister has been with Driscoll’s for 32 years and serves as senior vice president of sales and marketing. As a long-time resident — over three decades in Santa Cruz County — Michael has raised four children in the area.